With all the discussion lately about free speech issues, we have lost the core of the issue on Wesleyan’s campus. There has been a lack of Wespeaks actually stating that Black lives DO matter, and arguing against the claim that the movement is a hate group. This is a movement that seeks to raise up previously unheard voices, to highlight the historical and present-day strife that so many citizens are subject to. We are all implicit in upholding this strife, from the administration, to the student body, to Wesleying and Hermes and every predominantly white campus publication, to members of the faculty. The op-ed published two weeks ago simply brought attention to something that is not a new issue on campus. The Black Lives Matter movement was created to call attention to the unjust and brutal killing of Trayvon Martin in 2013, and the subsequent deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. While it is true that violence and prejudice do persist against police office rs, to focus on this is to detract from the issue of systemic and repeated violence against black and brown people in this country. That is where our discussion should be centered in light of recent events. For once, let’s take the conversation back from the cis, het, white man. Black Lives Matter is not a hate group. It is a civil rights movement that fearlessly calls attention to ignored issues of violence and oppression on a macro- and micro- level.

looks like some censorious dork kept reading all the articles around the nation about the students trying to shut down the argus and decided to go up to bat for the losers.

bobby

can we please stop talking about cis het white men as if they were some kind of homogenous group? we’re all on the same team in the fight against power, and cis het white men arent the enemy–the enemy is capitalism. just because capitalism benefits certain groups doesnt mean those groups have much control over power.

Michael Junior

I bet you typed this on your macbook or your iphone. And yet you childishly rant against capitalism. Oh, the irony.

How about your clothes? Are they fashionable? How about your car? How much money did you spend on food, or entertainment, or anything?

Yep, brought to you in part by Capitalism.

CliotoCalliope

“let’s take the conversation back from the cis, het, white man.” BLM is by no means a hate group– far from it– but this kind of identitarian sentiment alienates more than it inspires.

Michael Junior

“Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon”.

Now please tell me how BLM is not a hate group?

#micdrop

CliotoCalliope

Yes, your thoughts do have the quality of a hashtag, or at the very least exhibit an inability to distinguish an act from a movement as a whole. But probably no point in reasoning with someone who thinks in terms of micdrops.

Michael Junior

Lol, way to stereotype and prejudge. Nice use of the strawman argument there. No substance, but sure – turn it into a personal attack.

#micdrop
#OopsIDidItAgain

CliotoCalliope

Ah yes, claims to victimhood! And incorrect use of the term “strawman.” I’m not sure how employing the evidence of a single instance of some idiots chanting is sufficient to paint an entire movement with the broad brushstrokes of “hate group,” especially a decentralized phenomenon like BLM, but if it helps you feel put-upon and fuels your resentment, go ahead. I’m not the biggest fan of BLM because I don’t think their strategies are particularly effective and because I think many involved are more interested in performance than in getting things done (whatever they might tell themselves), but hyperbole doesn’t get anyone anywhere. Indeed opponents of BLM hyperbolize and misrepresent as much as those they criticize when they use terms like “hate group” to describe BLM. If you are going to comment, why not try to make a convincing case? And just to be clear: a hashtag does not suffice.

Michael Junior

I like pie. Do you like pie?

Man with Axe

“While it is true that violence and prejudice do persist against police officers, to focus on this is to detract from the issue of systemic and repeated violence against black and brown people in this country.” I wonder if you realize the irony that you, yourself, are focusing on a rather minuscule portion of the violence against black and brown people, police violence, and ignoring the 99% of violence against blacks, the violence committed by other blacks. Why not march against that violence? Is it because the perpetrators are not cis het white and therefore not interesting to you?

Anonymous

If that were true it would be something to be concerned about. Blacks draw the attention of the police more often because of the hugely disproportionate amount of crime they commit. The are more frequently injured or killed because they tend to resist arrest at a much higher rate than everyone else.

Black lives DON’T matter when the killers are black, especially in Detroit, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

L

A 2010 study noted that 93% of the murders of black people between 1980 and 2008 were perpetrated by other black people. http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf This dynamic does not seem to have changed much in the last 7 years. BLM basically ignores this issue, and in doing so, undermines its own credibility. You don’t have to believe that BLM is motivated by hate to understand that it can’t be effective if it ignores 93% of the problem. For this reason alone BLM is failing in its stated mission and will continue to fail.

Foot shot

Oh anon. The actions of the students against the wesleyan did more to tarnish my view of you guys then any conservative hit piece EVER could.